Battle of Lake Hamana
Background The city of Hamamatsu marked the westernmost point of the expansion of the postwar Japanese state. The city, like most in post-war Japan, only a shadow its former self, with a population of about 20,000 people in the area, mostly concentrated at around the old city center and the pre-war Hamamatsu air base, home to a JSDF garrison protecting the edge of free Japanese territory. To the west of Lake Hamana, which, in spite of its name, was actually a bay rather than lake and the mountains immediately the north was a "no-man's land" of numerous independent city states. From the 2200s many of these city-states were unified, either willingly or by force, under a man formerly known as Taro Oda, who assumed had by this point assumed the name of 16th century samurai daimyo Oda Nobunaga and instituted a traditionalist nationalist society similar to feudal Japan. After unifying most of the city-states around Honshu, Oda turned his sights towards the lands controlled by the Communist Party of Japan and the postwar Japanese state, who he described as "lackeys of foreign invaders" and "relics of a bygone age". The Communists were the first to be attacked on April 4th at the Battle of Awaji-shima, an attempt by the Shogunate to attack the communist-controlled Awaji-shima, which ended in a Shogunate defeat, however, the early communist counter-offensives were similarly unsuccessful. In spite of the dangers of a two-front war, Oda ordered daimyo of Toyohashi to make preparations to launch a series of surprise attacks on JSDF force in the Hamamatsu area. The plan was for small groups of Shogunate shinobi, Shogunate soldiers trained in infiltration, espionage, sabotage, and assassination to sabotage JSDF military targets and the two still-remaining bridges over the Tenryu River located to the east of Hamamatsu during the night of the 6th-7th, cutting the JSDF off from land reinforcements. Shogunate forces would then attack in a two-pronged attack consisting of an amphibious landing on the coast and land attack along the pre-war coastal road north of Lake Hamana. The land assault would only be launched once the amphibious forces were heavily engaged with the JSDF, so as to divert the maximum number of enemy forces away from the land assault to maximized their chances of breaking out of the choke point of the narrow coastal strip between Lake Hamana and the mountains to the north. Oda believed that, using this plan, he would be able to take control of the area between Lake Hamana and the Tenryu River, including the city of Hamamatsu, before the Japanese state reinforcements from Fuji Army Base or the Southern Naval Task Force, many of which were stationed in the Izu and Bonin islands, over 1000 kilometers away, placed to patrol trade routes with the Ryukyu Republic. Night Attacks The first Shogunate attacks took place at 0200 hours on July 6th, 2256, when small squads of shogunate shinobi infiltrated through the mountain ranges separating Shogunate and postwar Japanese state territory and launched attacks JSDF positions, including the more northerly of the two bridges surviving bridges over the Tenryu River, near the town of Tenryu, located at near the edge of the mountain front. While several artillery positions and outposts were destroyed, most notably a number of guard posts and coastal guns on the southern shore, the Shogunate underestimated the difficulty of destroying the bridges, which, while they had suffered 200 years of deterioration, were nonetheless of relatively sturdy steel and concrete construction, and furthermore, had reinforcing structures installed by JSDF engineers. The bridges were also well guarded by a platoon of infantry two APCs, and a Type 73 tank. At 0240 hours, having received radio reports of gunfire and explosions, and the loss of contact with some outposts in the mountains, JSDF forces were in Hamamatsu were placed on high alert. Shortly afterwards, a JSDF soldier at the northern Tenryu bridge spotted a group of suspicious individuals climbing on the bridge supports. The individuals attempted to silently dispatch the guard by shooting him with a crossbow, but only struck him in the shoulder. Other JSDF troops were alerted to the attack and promptly engaged and eliminated all five individuals, who were quickly discovered to be Shogunate shinobi in the process of attempting to sabotage the bridge by placing a mini-nuke and several C-4 charges on the metal connectors between the concrete bridge support and the steel frame above. With the warnings from other JSDF outposts, the destruction of the southern bridge over the Tenryu River was likewise prevented. At 0300 hours, the next stage of the Shogunate attack took place, consisting of six pre-war light planes modified to carry rockets and machine guns, used for their low radar signature, deployed with the intent to destroy the one surviving pre-war radar dish at Hamamatsu air base, as well as many grounded aircraft as possible. The attack was a partial success, destroying four of the seven F80J jet aircraft based at the base, as well as four helicopters and CV-80 VTOL, and the radar also sustained damage. The attack force, however, did not damage the runway, allowing the three surviving F80Js to be launched by 4:00 hours. While the Shogunate aircraft did not return, the F80Js did discover a large flotilla of an estimated 80 small boats, as well as well as several large vessels off the south shore of Hamamatsu, sailing inland at 450 hours. While local fishermen and traders were known to use these waters, the size of the flotilla, as well as the fact that it was sailing directly towards a beach which had already been subject to multiple surprise attacks what, by that point, had been determined to be Shogunate shinobi was cause for alarm. Landing of the Flotilla Colonel Naoki Hirano, commander of JSDF forces in the Hamamatsu area ordered the aircraft to continue to observe the flotilla, and for all available JGSDF forces, including 15 tanks, 20 other vehicles, and 800 infantry to the expected landing point of the flotilla, and radioed Camp Fuji to the northeast to request reinforcements. Apparently realizing they had been discovered, at about 500 hours the pre-war container ships and ferries associated with Shogunate fleet fired various anti-aircraft weapons at the flight of F80s. These weapons, consisting mostly of autocannons and machine guns, were none to accurate, and did not score any hit, serving only to confirm the hostile identity of the fleet. At the same time, the larger ships of the Shogunate fleet began firing their mounted artillery on targets ashore, including Hamamatsu air base. While the fire was inaccurate, it was enough to make landing at Hamamatsu Air base dangerous. The three F80Js returned fire, engaging the flotilla with machine gun fire as they advanced towards the beach, but the aircraft had not been armed with any heavier weapons such as bombs, rockets, or missiles, given the rarity of pre-war ordnance and the fact that they had not been expected to engage a larger invasion fleet. Nonetheless, the strafing runs such at least 18 small boats and damaged numerous others. While the JSDF mechanized infantry and armor were quick to respond, much of the post-war JSDF troops stationed at Hamamatsu did not have easy access to mechanized transport, as was the case in many post-war military forces. For this reason, dozens of Shogunate boats and hundreds of men managed to land before the JSDF forces could respond. Nonetheless, the superior firepower of the JSDF forces, managed to pin the Shogunate forces on the beach for the better part of an hour, the guns of the tanks and artillery sinking a number of incoming vessels, including two of the pre-war car ferries which carried their armored fighting vehicles. The armor, however, was forced to retreat after the Shogunate bombardment ships (pre-war container ships fitted with artillery) began firing on the abandoned residential areas the JSDF tanks and mechanized infantry were using as cover. At the same time, seven Shogunate F80Js and 12 light planes arrived over the area, gaining local air superiority and forcing the three surviving F80Js, which were by then low on ammunition, to retreat to the airfield at JSDF Camp Fuji. The aircraft attacked both the JSDF forces near the shore, and Hamamatsu Air base, which suffered multiple bomb hits, disabling the runways and destroying two hangars. Under pressure from the artillery fire and aircraft, the JSDF force retreated north through Nishi-ku in southwest Hamamatsu, into the abandoned pre-war residential area surrounding the old Maisaka rail station. With their positions concealed among the many abandoned buildings, they were difficult to spot from the air, while the JSDF could use the streets and alleyways to channel the attacking Shogunate forces into chokepoints, slowing their advance. The Shogunate's localized air superiority was short lived, as by 600 hours, with the first forces to arrive being a flight of twelve F80Js, including the three that escaped from Hamamatsu Air Base, now refueled and re-armed, as well as one Mitsubishi FX-45, a cutting-edge pre-war fighter, among the relatively few of its design to survive the war. The JSDF aircraft caught the Shogunate aircraft by surprise, scoring three kills with pre-war air-to-air missiles, however, because of the rarity of the missiles and that fact that the pre-war targeting systems sometimes malfunctioned, the JSDF aircraft could not clear the skies with missile alone. As such, six F80Js and the FX-45 engaged the Shogunate aircraft in a dogfight, in which all four Shogunate F80Js were shot down, at the cost of only one JSDF aircraft. With the skies cleared, the remaining F80Js launched attacks on the armed cargo ships of the Shogunate bombardment fleet off shore, as well as Shogunate armored forces which were unloading from pre-war car ferries that had beached themselves against on the shore. While a handful of the JSDF aircraft carried pre-war anti-ship missiles, which sank two cargo ships and damaged three others, like with air-to-air missiles, the pre-war ordnance was by this point rare and saved for priority targets, so most of the aircraft were forced to attacking with guns, unguided rockets, and bombs, using older aerial techniques such as dive bombing and launching attack runs from out of the sun, which was at their backs as they were coming from the east. The F80Js were joined by a pair of P3 Orion patrol aircraft that were often used as improvised bombers in the post-war period (as Japan lacked any bomber aircraft of its own and all US-based bomber aircraft were destroyed in the nuclear exchange). The bombing run by the P3s hit the beaches, destroying several beached car ferries and countless Shogunate tanks. The destruction of much of the Shogunate bombarding forces and armor allowed the JSDF armor and infantry to push back towards the shore and retake the beach by 0700 hours. By 800 hours, all Shogunate forces had been cleared from South Hamamatsu. Battle of Kita-ku At 0530 hours, by which point the Shogunate flotilla had landed on the east side of the Lake Hamana, a second force of Shogunate troops, including 2500 infantry, supported by 20 tanks and 30 other vehicles launched an attack around the northeastern long route around Lake Hamana, advancing east from the town of Mikkabi, attempting to push through the JSDF defenses on the narrow strip of land between the lake and mountains and make their way into Kita-ku in northern Hamamatsu. As the Shogunate shinobi had covertly attacked many of the observation posts in the mountains, JSDF forces did not detect the column until 0600 hours, when they were observed from the air by reinforcing JSDF aircraft near Nishi-Kiga station. Three F80J fighters were redirected to attack the column with guns and rockets, destroying at least a dozen tanks and other vehicles and killing over 200 infantry, however, most of the aircraft and ordnance were directed towards the Shogunate landing, meaning that, while the strike slowed the attack, it did not completely halt it. The attack, however, did by about 45 minutes of valuable time for the 200 or so JSDF troops tasked with guarding the southernmost surviving bridge over the Miyakoda River, near the town of Hosoe in Kita-ku, under Captain Teiichi Inaba valuable time to prepare a defense. In order to defend against the superior attacking force, Inaba ordered his unit, which consisted mostly of infantry and a few APCs, to place mines and remote explosives on the main crossroads leading to the bridge. Most of the infantry forces were place in positions along the levees on the east side of the Miyakoda River, with a smaller force consisting of mostly of marksmen, machine gun, and ATGM crews on the ridge on the west side of the river, which overlooked the main roads toward the river. Around 645 hours, the Shogunate ground force had regrouped from the air attack and made first contact with the forward elements of Captain Inaba's defenses. As the Shogunate forces passed the hidden explosives on the roads leading up to the bridge, disabling Shogunate vehicles and blocking the road with debris. At this point, JSDF troops in positions hidden on the ridge to the north opened up with machine guns, ATGMs, and recoilless rifles. The Shogunate tanks, boxed in by the narrow streets proved easy targets for the entrenched JSDF infantry, while the densely packed pre-war houses often created obstructions which the Shogunate tanks could not always elevate their guns to clear. Ten more tanks and 12 other vehicles were knocked out by JSDF forces on the ridge, before the Shogunate commander called for the vehicles to retreat while mortars and artillery shelled the JSDF defense on the ridge. While the bombardment caused a several casualties, the well-dug in JSDF defenders still had about 35 men remaining in the platoon when a force of about 400 Shogunate infantry were tasked to storm the ridgeline. While outnumbered, the JSDF still held an overwhelming terrain advantage, with their machine guns and snipers able to fire down on the incoming infantry, which were split into several predictable channels by the pre-war streets. Even upon reaching the foot of the hill, there was only one pre-war road and a couple more paths up the hill, forcing the Shogunate infantry to either adopt a predictable path or else run up a steep hill, where there movement was considerable slowed. At times, groups of Shogunate ashigaru strayed into the sight lines of the JSDF defenders on the east side of the Miyakoda River and were caught in deadly crossfire between the JSDF on the ridge and those on the east side of the river. After 20 minutes of heavy fighting, the JSDF defenders on the ridge had begun to run out of ammunition, however, they had inflicted over 250 casualties on the attacking Shogunate forces. The platoon of troops on the ridge, which now numbered 30 men retreated over the top of the ridge, making their way through the streets to the north of the ridge and waded across the Miyakoda River, regrouping with the rest of the company on the west side of the river. By 710 hours, Shogunate forces started taking positions on the ridge on the west side of the river and begun to fire down on the JSDF forces on the east side, and were also making attempts to cross the river. However, by this point, JSDF forces had captured or eliminated most of the Shogunate forces that landed on the beach in South Hamamatsu, freeing up JSDF forces to reinforce Captain Inaba's position. The first JSDF forces allocated to the defense were a field artillery battery of six 105mm M101 howitzers, which from their position near Hamamatsu air base, could simply be turned to the northwest to fire on Shogunate forces. With in minutes of Shogunate forces setting up positions on the ridgeline, Captain Inaba began directing fire missions onto the ridge, his forces having drilled in directing fire onto likely avenues of approach to the bridge. The artillery fire quickly forced the Shogunate to retreat from the ridgeline. The Shogunate retreat was further pushed by the arrival of two platoons of tanks (10 vehicles), as well as two platoons of mechanized infantry, which further reinforced the line of the Miyakoda River and forced the Shogunate forces out of the immediate vicinity of the Miyakoda River. While the JSDF defenders faced sporadic artillery and mortar fire until about 800 hours, when the first group of re-armed JSDF aircraft arrived and attacked the remaining Shogunate forces within artillery range of the bridge,the Shogunate did not attempt another attack on bridge at Kita-ku that day, having lost over 700 troops, 14 tanks, and 21 other vehicles. Instead, the defeated survivors retreated back to Toyohashi. Reinforcement and Counterattack By 1000 hours, all Shogunate forces east of the Miyakoda River and Lake Hamana had surrendered or been destroyed. In response to the surprise attack, throughout the afternoon of of July 6th and into the 7th, the JSDF deployed over 1000 additional infantry, 40 tanks, and 60 other combat vehicles to Hamamatsu from JSDF base Fuji, the main base of the JSDF on the western frontier of postwar Japanese state territory. The JMSDF also deployed two frigates, four missile boats, and four armed container ships Hamamatsu, and 22 aircraft were allocated to for support. With no threat of a second Shogunate attack, it was decided that a counterattack would be launched with the goal of destroying the Shogunate staging areas, creating a further buffer zone against Shogunate attack, and possibly establishing a foothold on the west side of Lake Hamana with which to launch a counteroffensive with the eventual goal of taking Toyohashi. The first stage of the attack consisted of JSDF fighter and bomber (pre-war P-3 patrol aircraft repurposed for bombing) launching a series of air raids on targets on the east side of the Lake, including staging areas for the Shogunate attack on the morning of the 6th. The JSDF managed to deploy enough aircraft to establish local air superiority over the area within 5-10 kilometers of the eastern shore of Lake Hamana, though they never controlled the skies beyond that point for the duration of the operation, as, while the Shogunate air forces were fewer in number, the city of Toyohashi was defended by a heavy curtain of anti-aircraft fire. While the defenses were mostly cruder gun-based systems, the rarity of working pre-war aircraft on both sides meant that commanders were not willing to risk flying directly over Toyohashi. The air attacks began late on the 6th of July, and were joined by artillery and naval gunfire by the 7th. After three days of bombardment, the first ground operations of the counterattack commenced on the 9th of July, 2256, with JSDF armored forces advancing across the Miyakoda River to the north, and a second seaborne force landing on the opposite side of the shore of Lake Hamana. Both attacking force made initial gains, with the north force advancing as far as Nishi-Kiga with little resistance and establishing a forward outpost there. JSDF infantry also took several of the major mountain peaks north of Lake Hamana and established outpost. By 0900 hours on the 9th, however, the JSDF had become bogged down on the route leading west to Sunza. The offensive quickly devolved into a stalemate, with JSDF forces facing the same problem the Shogunate faces at Kita-ku, namely being trapped into a chokepoint between the mountains and Lake Hamana, preventing any forward movement for either side. The seaborne attack was able to advanced further inland, it too was eventually slowed by the fact that JSDF naval support was limited by the unwillingness of the JSDF to send their valuable ships, particularly the pre-war warships further than 10 kilometers into Shogunate-controlled waters, for fear of being attacked by Shogunate warships or the many artillery batteries on the coast, which, while not intended for anti-ship used, were numerous and often well-hidden. In the end, the attack was bogged down in heavy street fighting in the town of Kosai. After four days of fighting, on the 13th of July, it became clear that a breakthrough was not going to occur in either the north or the south, and JSDF forces pulled back to the nearest defensible positions. In the end, the counterattack did make small territorial gains, as the JSDF were able to hold and establish outposts on Bentenjima and the other islands in Lake Hamana, as well as taking the town of Nishi-Kiga on the north side of the lake, but ultimately they were unable to push deeper into Shogunate territory. While the battle was considered victory by the JSDF, the stalemate along natural barriers was a pattern that would typify much of the Honshu War. Category:Battles Category:Events